Toy blocks



D. M. swlNGLE 2,738,594

Toy BLocxs Filed Dec. 12, 1951 March 20, 1956 A IFIHU a IN VEN TOR w23/dM. Swag/e ATTORNEY United States Patent O TOY BLoCKs Donald M. Swingle,Neptune, N. J. Application December 12, 1951, semi Ne. 261,188

i 4 claims. (ci. .ss-34) This invention relates to toy blocks, and moreespecally to blocks having such characteristics as to absorb theinterests of both children and adults.

One ofthe primary objects of this invention is to `provide a set of toyblocks having means for `facilitating the handling thereof by theinexperienced lingers of children as the blocks are employed in thebuilding of various imaginary structures.

A further object of this invention is to present a puzzle to be solvedby children or adults through the utilization of toy blocks havingsimple geometric congurations and a container therefor. A still furtherobject of this invention residesy in the provision of toy blocks toillustrate, in concrete form, certain elementary arithmetical,geometrical, or mathe matical relationships.

l Other and further objects and advantages of this in-` vention willbecome immediately apparent from a con sideration or" the followingspecification when read in the light of the accompanying drawings, inwhich:

Fig. 1 is a top plan view of a container and one embodiment of a set oftoyblocks disposed therein and arranged in accordance with a givenpattern in accordance with the teachings of this invention.

Fig. 2 is a top plan view of the container with one set of blocksremoved to illustrate another set of blocksy disposed within thecontainer and having diterent configurations.

Fig. 3 is a cross-sectional view taken on the line 3-3 of Fig. 1; i

l Fig.V 4 illustrates a modified form of a set of blocks disposed withinthe container;

` Fig. 5 shows a further modication of a set of blocks disposed withinthe container shown in Fig; 4;

Fig. 6 is a perspective View of one of the'block elements illustrated inthe preceding gures; and

'Fig. 7 is a perspective view of another form of the block elementsshown in the above iigures.

Referring now more specifically to Figs. 1 to 3, inclusive, and Figs. 6and 7, the reference numeral 1 indicates a container having asubstantially equilateral rectangular or square conliguration, andincludes a base 3 from the edges of which vertically project theopposed, spaced and parallel front and rear walls and 7, respectively,land the opposed, spaced and parallel side walls 9 and 11`,respectively. The walls and base are secured together in any mannerconventional in the art.

As is seen in Fig. 3, the upper and lower sets of blocks, indicatedgenerally at 13 and 15, respectively, are disposed within the containerto form a compact unit.

The upper layer of blocks 13 shown in Fig. 1 comprise, in this instance,four substantially equilateral, rectangular or square blocks 17,disposed within the container 1 Aadjacent each corner thereof, andblocks 19 of identical dimensions positioned intermediate each pair'ofblocks 17 and adjacent each of the Vwalls of the container` 1. VV-A'pair of identical triangular (isosceles) blocksv 21 having theirrespective hypotenuse sides 21 in juxtaposed relationship are centrallypositioned between the blocks 19 and are bounded thereby. To facilitatethe handling of the blocks 17, 19 and 21, the blocks 17 and 19 areformed with a'central transverse opening 18 extending transverselytherethrough, while each of the blocks 21 is constructed with acentrally located recess 20 which extends transversely therethrough. Theupper set of blocks 13 is supported on the lower set of blocks 15 which,in turn, is supported within the container 1 on the base 3. The lowerset of blocks includes, in this embodiment of the invention (Fig. 2), asubstantially equilateral rectangular or square block 23 positionedwithin the container 1 adjacent a corner thereof with a pair of itsadjacent sides juxtaposed and parallel to a pair of adjacent walls 5 and9 of the container 1.

A pair of oblong blocks 25 are positioned within the container 1, with`one of their sides of maximum length lying adjacent, juxtaposed andparallel to one of the other pairs of adjacent sides, respectively, ofthe rectangular block 23. As is seen in Fig. 2, the width yof the oblongblocks 25 is less than the length of a side of the rectangular block 23extending in the same direction.

`4ln diagonally Aopposite corners and adjacent each of the oblong blocks25 is disposed an oblongblock 27 having a side of maximum lengthdisposedadjacent and parallel to the other side of maximum length of one of therectangular blocks 25, and the width of each block 27 is less than thewidth of its adjacent block 25.

The fourth corner of the container 1 is occupied by an equilateralrectangular square block 29 whose sides have dimensions equal to thewidth of the oblong blocks 27. An oblong block 31 is positioned againstthe side wall 11, intermediate the oblong block 27 and rectangular block29,` and the length Vof the oblong block 31 is equal to the width of theoblong block 2S while the width of the oblong block 31 is equal to thewidth of the oblong block 27 or a side of the rectangular corner block29.

Adjacent the rear wall 7 and intermediate the corner blocks 27 and v29,is disposed an oblong block 33 having its side of maximum Ilength equalto the width of the oblong block 2S, and the width of the oblong block33 is equal to the width of the oblong block 27 or a side of therectangular corner block 29.

` It will be apparent that the blocks 27 are of equal size; that' theblocks 25 are of equal size; and that the blocks 31 and 33 are of equalsize. v

yApair of identical triangular (isosceles) blocks 35 are disposed*between and are boundedby the blocks 25, 31 and 33. Each of thetriangular blocks 35 is positioned with its respective hypotenuse 35 injuxtaposed relationship.

' Theupper and lower sets of blocks, 13 and 15, are removable from thecontainer 1 and are adaptable to serve as general blocks for imaginativechild play. For very young children, in most instances the form of playevidences itself in the more or less repetitions removal fromandreplacement in the container 1 of one or` more of the blocks. To lend ahigher degree of attractiveness to the blocks, each may be painted incolor to contrast with `respect to another.

As the age of the individual increases the blocks may be used` to createimaginary structures as, for example, trains, buildings, ships andothers too numerous to mention -inasmuch as the same is ,limitedonly bythe ghts of fancy of the individual. i y At'some stage of developmentthe sense of perception container tofserve as a puzzle. To this end, thesets of blocks 13 and 15 are removed from the container 1 and thoroughlymixed, one with the other. Thereafter, the child is otered the challengeof selectingvarious blocks,

' from each set-for replacement 'within the container 1 in such a manneras to completely occupy the space thereof. As a puzzle, the childs senseof proportion and familiarity with simple geometric configuration isdeveloped.

As the individual matures, the sets of blocks may well serve toillustrate, in concrete form, certain mathematical expressions, forexample:

That the surface area of the container 1 ywithin the walls 5, 7, 9 and11 is equal to the sum total of the surface area of all of the blocks ofeither of the sets 13 or 15. This may be done by inspection and laterproved mathematically by measuring the sides of the blocks andsubstituting their numerical value in the equation A=lw for eachrectangular block, and

ba A? for each triangular piece, wherein b is the length of the base anda is the altitude.

In the set of blocks 13, the isosceles right triangular blocks 21 areassociated to Vform a figure having a recmore frequently noted as ba4r-2* wherein b is the length of the base and a is the height.

Thereafter, the third dimension could be introduced to illustrate thedeterminations of volume and capacity.

lt will be understood that the examples offered above are in no sense tobe considered as an exhaustive presentation of the teachings of thisinvention, for the shapes, sizes and numbers of the pieces could bevaried at will to illustrate other equations, propositions or theoriesinvolving two or three dimensions.

Figs. 4 and 5 illustrate other embodiments of this invention, and areespecially designed for more advanced students to demonstrate the theoryof Pythagoras which is expressed algebraically by the equation a2+b2=c3,wherein a and b represent the length of the sides of a right triangleand c equals the length of the hypotenuse.

As in the embodiments of the invention shown in Figs. 1 and 2, one ormore sets of blocks may be disposed within an equilateral, rectangularcontainer 1 constructed as described above. The set of blocks isdesignated generally by the reference numeral 41 and is illustrated inFig. 4.

The set of blocks 41 comprise a centrally positioned equilateral,rectangular block 43, having a central transverse opening 44 formedtherein. The sides c facean adjacent corner of the container 1, and thespace between each side c and the corner of the container 1 is occupiedby au identical acute righttn'angular block 45 having a transverseopening 46 formed therein. As illustrated in Fig. 4 each base of thetriangular block 45 has been designated by the reference character b,the height or altitude thereof as a, and the. hypotenuse -as h; In thegiven construction, the Avltypotenuse h of the triangular block 45 isequal to the adjacent side c ofthe rectangular block 43.

The-blocks 43 and 45 are of such size as to occupy the entirev spacebetweenthefront and rear walls, 5 and 7', and the side walls, 9 and 11,and comprise the sum total of the areas of al1 of the individual blocks43 and 45, which may be Written as nngpnan@ To illustrate thecorrectness of the theory, the upper set of blocks 41 is removed toexpose a lower set of blocks indicated, in general, by the referencenumeral 47. The blocks 47 occupy the entire space between the walls 5,7, 9 and 11 of the container 1 and comprise au equilateral rectangularblock 49 disposed in the container 1 with a pair of its adjacent sides ejuxtaposed and parallel to the side walls 5 and 11 at a corner of thecontainer 1. The block 49 is provided with a transverse opening 50substantially adjacent the center thereof.

Two pairs of identical right triangular blocks 51 having transverseopenings 52 are positioned adjacent the other two adjacent sides erespectively, of the square block 49. These triangular blocks 51 areidentical to the triangular blocks 45 of Fig. 4, and from Fig. 5 it isseen that their respective altitude a' is equal to the length e of thesquare 49. An equilateral rectangular block 53 having a transverseopening 54 occupies the space at the corner of the container 1diagonally opposite the equilateral rectangular block 49. As is seen inthe drawing, the sides d of the block 53 have a length equal to thelength b of the triangular blocks 51.

It is now manifest that the total area of the container 1 is equal tothe sum of the areas of the four triangular blocks 51, plus the area ofthe two rectangular blocks 49 vand 53. This may be expressedalgebraically as, A=e2-l-2a'b'+d2.

From inspection and from the above specication it is clear that thelength h of the triangular blocks 45 in Fig. 4., is equal to theadjacent side c of the rectangular block43, and since the triangularblocks 45 and 51 are identical,` then a and b are equal to a and b',respectively.

Similarly, thev side e of the rectangle 49 is equal to the side a of thetriangular block 51, which is also equal to the length a of thetriangular block 45, and the side d is equal to the length of the sideb' of block 51, which is equal to the length b of the triangular block45.

Substituting these equivalents in the equation last formulated we findA=e2+2a'b-j-d2=a2|2ab+b2.

Two equations have thus been found for the area of container 1, andvsetting them equal it is determined that a2+2ab+b2=2ab+c2, or a2-|b2=c2.

In addition to being a puzzle in presenting a problem to be solved, theblocks ot' Figs. 4 and 5 may also he used asv toy building blocks, andthe openings formed therein will facilitate the handling thereof.

As a further example of the versality of the sets of blocks 13 and 15,let it be assumed that the length of any side of the container 1 he land the length of any side of the square blocks 17 and 19 be s. It nowbecomes apparent that in order to have a proper tit of the blocks 17 and19 along any given side three blocks must be used, and hence l=3s.

From inspection of the set of blocks 15 it is seen that each of theoblong blocks 25 and 27 have a side equal tothe length of any side ofthe square block 23, and that the width of the blocks 25 and 27 havedifferent values. Hench, if a equals the length of any side of thesquare block 23, and b designates the width of the oblong block 25, andc represents the Width of the oblong block 27, then in order to properlyfit these blocks Within the kcontainer 1 along a side thereof,l=a+b+c=3s.

Y From this development the area of the container may be tainer 1, i.e., each row and column must be blocks.

In considering the sets of blocks 41 and 47 no clear-cut rows or columnsare defined, but each set satisfies the equation A=l2=a2lb2+2ab=c2+2abin each layer.

It will be evident that a problem will be presented to a child inreassembling all of the blocks in a container so as to have them tuniformly therein.

It is also intended that one set of blocks alone may be used, ifdesired, without using superposed sets of Furthermore, the hand holes18, etc., may be omitted, if desired. Any suitable geometrical patternmay be built up by properly shaping the blocks accordingly.

Having described this invention in detail, it will be understood thatthe embodiments therein presented are offered only by way of example andthat the invention is to be limited only by the scope of the followingclaims.

I claim:

l. An educational device for demonstrating the theorem of Pythagorascomprising a equilateral rectangular container having a base andvertically extending side walls, a set of blocks disposed Within saidcontainer and supported on said base, said set of blocks .completelycovering the area of said base and comprising an equilateral rectangularblock disposed within a corner of said container, a smaller equilateralrectangular block disposed in the diametrically opposite corner of saidcontainer, and a pair of identical right triangular blocks disposedwithin the spaces defined by the adjacent sides of said rectangularblocks and the walls of the container adjacent the other two corners ofsaid container, and a second set of blocks supported on and completelycovering first set of blocks and comprising an identical righttriangular block disposed in each corner of said container and havingthe same area as each of the nght triangular blocks of said first set ofblocks, and an equilateral rectangular block centrally positioned withinsaid container with the sides of said last-named block being juxtaposedwith respect to the hypotenuse of each of said last-named triangularblocks.

2. An educational device for demonstrating the theorem of Pythagorascomprising block confining means including vertically extending sidewalls which define the sides of an equilateral rectangle, a first set ofblocks disposed Within said block confining means and completelycovering the area of said equilateral rectangle, and a second set ofblocks disposed Within said block confining means on top of said firstset of blocks and completely covering said first set, one of said setsof blocks comprising an equilateral rectangular block disposed in acorner of the rectangle formed by said side walls of said blockconfining means, another equilateral rectangular block disposed in thediagonally opposite corner of said rectangle, and a pair of identicalright triangular blocks disposed within each of the spaces defined bythe adjacent sides of said rectangular blocks and said side wallsadjacent the other two corners of said rectangle, and the other of saidsets of blocks comprising an identical right triangular block disposedin each corner of said rectangle and having the same facial dimensionsas each of the right triangular blocks of said first set of blocks, andan equilateral rectangular block centrally positioned within saidrectangle With the sides of said last-named block being juxtaposed withrespect to the hypotenuse of each of said last-named triangular blocks.

3. An educational device for demonstrating the theorem of Pythagorascomprising block confining means including vertically extending sidewalls which define the sides of an equilateral rectangle, a first set offlat, toy building blocks each having a transverse opening therethroughto facilitate the grasping thereof disposed Within said block confiningmeans and completely covering the area of said equilateral rectangle,and a second set of fiat, toy building blocks, each having a transverseopening therethrough to facilitate the grasping thereof, disposed withinsaid block confining means on top of said first set of blocks andcompletely covering said first set, one of said sets of blockscomprising an equilateral rectangular block disposed in a corner of therectangle formed by said side walls of said block confining means,another equilateral rectangular block disposed in the diagonallyopposite corner of said rectangle, and a pair of identical righttriangular blocks disposed within each of the spaces defined by theadjacent sides of said rectangular blocks and said side walls adjacentthe other two corners of said rectangle, and the other of said sets ofblocks comprising an identical right triangular block disposed in eachcorner of said rectangle and having the same facial dimensions as'eachof the right triangular blocks of said first set of blocks, and anequilateral rectangular block centrally positioned within said rectanglewith the sides of said last-named block being juxtaposed with respect tothe hypotenuse of each of said last-named triangular blocks.

4. An educational device for demonstrating the theorem of Pythagorascomprising block confining means including vertically extending sidewalls which define the sides of an equilateral rectangle, a first set ofcolored, flat, toy building blocks each having a transverse openingtherethrough to facilitate the grasping thereof disposed within saidblock confining means and completely covering the area of saidequilateral rectangle, and a second set of colored, flat, toy buildingblocks each having a transverse opening therethrough to facilitate thegrasping thereof disposed within said block confining means on top ofsaid first set of blocks and completely covering `said first set, one ofsaid sets of blocks comprising an equilateral rectangular block disposedin a corner of the rectangle formed by said side Walls of said blockconfining means, another equilateral rectangular block disposed in thediagonally opposite corner of said rectangle, and a pair of identicalright triangular blocks disposed within each of the spaces defined bythe adjacent sides of said rectangular blocks and said side Wallsadjacent the other two corners of said rectangle, and the other of saidsets of blocks comprising an identical right triangular block disposedin each corner of said rectangle and having the same facial dimensionsas each of the right triangular blocks of said first set of blocks, andan equilateral rectangular block centrally positioned within saidrectangle with the sides of said last-named block being juxtaposed withrespect to the hypotenuse of each of said last-named triangular blocks.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS785,665 Coe Mar. 21, 1905 907,203 Walker Dec. 22, 1908 1,017,752 HardyFeb. 20, 1912 1,565,099 Nierodka s Dec. 8, 1925 1,642,236 Foster Sept.13, 1927 1,935,308 Baltzley Nov. 14, 1933 1,964,007 Parks June 26, 19342,472,439 Rogers June 7, 1949 FOREIGN PATENTS 14,481 Great Britain 1914

